Monday felt more like early spring than mid-January, a great day for about 50 marchers to trek from downtown Burlington to the Mayco Bigelow Community Center as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

“Sometimes it’s a little cold,” said Ann Slade Rone, one of the organizers of the event at least 10 years in the making. “But today is perfect.”

The march covers about three miles, concluding at the community center where a celebration of the life of the civil rights leader is held. Marchers were escorted by police who blocked traffic intersections and generally made sure the pedestrians remained safe.

A handful of passing drivers waved. Some homeowners stepped onto the porches of their homes to speak to the marchers and thank them for what they were doing. Several choruses of “We Shall Overcome” were sung as group members proceeded down city streets.

Rone said organizers looked forward to anyone in the community joining them. Most of the marchers were black, but a handful of whites were included.

“We try to get the message out to the churches,” Rone said. “White, black – everybody is welcome. Please come.”

The march is sponsored by the Alamance County Chapter of the NAACP. Ernestine Lewis of the NAACP didn’t participate in Monday’s march, but waited with others at the community center for the group’s arrival.

“It’s a symbolic thing,” she said. “One year it snowed, but people walked anyway.”

Harold James was one of those who helped organize Monday’s hike. He distributed bottles of water and assured everyone at the start of the walk that if they grew tired, all they had to do was let him know.

“A poop-out van, that we do have,” James said, laughing as he spoke.

Apparently no one needed it. The marchers moved at a steady clip – the entourage stopping a few times to let stragglers catch up.

David Pulliam said he participates in the march every year. Pulliam, 77, is a Burlington resident who retired from the Air Force.

He said he was stationed in Texas for years while in the military and drove back and forth from North Carolina. Pulliam said that on his travels he stayed a time or two at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where King was later assassinated.